How social media got me into creating art again

I have shared my artwork here for a while now but I never really went into what spurred me to start posting my work online.

Somehow in the middle of changing diapers and then getting kids ready to start school,the time that I spent on creating art fell by the wayside. It was youtube that changed that. I missed creating art and finding a way to share art with others within easy reach just pushed me to get on with it and carve out time to spend on art again. Talula Rouge (poetspice)had organized a smashbook challenge and it spurred me to creating daily again.

pop out mermaid,mixed media crayon,acrylic,markers created by LydiaPuenteHarris for a smashbook challenge.

It’s done a lot for me,it’s caused me to tap into parts of me that were there expressing creativity in other ways but not quite fulfilling me.

That first online artist group that I found was art geeks,the group was cofounded by gulfsprite.
I was a member of their Facebook group until they disbanded that page and moved to a ning site.The group helped me discover art journals and how much I love working in them.

Summer of Color was the next group I found. Kristin from Twinkle,Twinkle has a challenge ever summer. Artists are given color prompts and create whatever they want that uses those colors. Paintings are shared but so are crayon drawings,sewn artwork even jewelry. It’s very open to whatever you create and want to share with others. Facebook made it really easy for the artists in this group to keep in touch with one another and share our work.

29 faces. This a bi-annual group also meets on Facebook as well as through visiting each other’s blogs through a linky.

acrylic in a repurposed book with lace and buttons. Created by Lydia Puente Harris for 29 faces.

It was formed by Ayala Art and the goal is to create 29 faces in a month.

I am currently a member of NHB (No Holds Barred Team) on Facebook. The group was created in April of 2013 on FaceBook by Lizzy Love of Canada “For those of us that would like to have the freedom to create with absolutely no restrictions”. Another difference with this group is that rather than be focused on one challenge, it exists year round. There are rounds for it’s members to take part in,an Exquisite Corpse round took part before I joined and we hope to do another in the future,but the group is more than that. We are encouraged to share whatever we are working on at the moment. There really are no restraints on the artwork we share which is really refreshing. I don’t specialize in nudes for instance,but I have begun to focus on them to get better at my form. It is nice to be able to share things that you know will not offend others. (That has not always been the case in some art groups that I have been part of.)

Like the other groups that I have participated in,NHB members have never met. They are a small but friendly group of women that live in Australia, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, and United States: